Oil Company Biofuel Profits

BP and Shell Lead in Biofuel Commercialization

A recent report published by Pike Research has given Shell and BP the highest marks in their assessment of all oil major’s commercialization of biofuels.

As the realities of peak oil continue to hit us in the face with all the subtlety of a brick, major oil companies are now charting the best ways to bring biofuels to market. Of all those companies, Shell and BP are in the best position to profit from the growth of biofuels.

Pike scored ten companies on a scale of 1-100.

Shell – 74.7

BP – 74.4

Total – 66.1

Petrobras – 66.0

Chevron – 63.0

Statoil – 59.8

PetroChina – 54.6

ConocoPhillips – 50.9

Eni – 48.5

ExxonMobil – 40.4

While today's biofuels industry accounts for 30 billion gallons, its importance is expected to rise in the coming years due to mandates in 31 different countries. With those mandates amounting to $336 billion over the next ten years, oil companies’ expertise will be crucial to keep the ball rolling on biofuel production.

Barring complete collapse, Pike projects the revenue from global biofuels production will top $171 billion by 2020.